This invention relates to model railroad cars, and specifically to a self-centering truck assembly which facilitates easy placement of a model rail car on a track.
Placing model rail cars on a model railroad track can be one of the more time consuming and frustrating operations in running a model railroad. When one is a member of a club, and frequently transports a large volume of rolling stock between a home layout and a club layout, placement of model rail cars on tracks is extremely time consuming.
Another problem, particularly with smaller gauge railroads, arises when young children are introduced to model railroading before they acquire the requisite motor skills and patience necessary to handle relatively small rail cars and engines.
One known technique for placing cars on tracks is the provision of guides, sometimes called re-railers, which are built into the track. Re-railers guide the wheels of a rail car on the track rails when the car is moved over that particular portion or section of track.
Such a re-railer includes a center safety guide, such as is found on prototype pikes, which provides clearance for wheel flanges and which has a V-shaped throat at each end. An external rail or platform is provided to lift a wheel flange which is outside of the main rail to the level of the rail top surface. The flange may then be positioned between the rail pair forming a track.
A problem with this type of re-railer is that only a particular portion or section of track is available for railing of cars on the rails, to the exclusion of the other sections of track. Even if several such re-railers are provided on a layout, the odds of a re-railer being located at the necessary location for all railings, except the initial placement, are small. De-railments rarely occur in proximity to a re-railer. Additionally, such a re-railer may produce slight nicks in the wheels and wheel flanges as the cars are moved over the rails in a non-railed condition.
Another known device is a railing ramp, which may be formed of metal or plastic. The railing ramp is manually placed over the track, and guides the wheels of a model rail car onto the rails.
To use such a device, there must be several of the devices scattered about the layout, particularly in the case of layouts that extend over hundreds or thousands of square feet.
Finally, a model rail car may be placed on the tracks by lowering one's head down to track level, picking up the car and very tediously placing the car and the wheels on the tracks with the wheels properly railed on the tracks. Manual placement of rail cars on a track is sometimes difficult for the very young, or for the more mature model railroader. This is, of course, the oldest known way to place model rail cars on tracks. This is also the reason that the aforementioned devices and techniques, as well as the truck assembly of the invention, have been created.
An object of the invention is to provide a railing assembly which will facilitate placement of a model rail car on railroad tracks.
Another object of the invention is to provide a self-centering truck assembly which will align the trucks on a model rail car with the longitudinal axis of the car, thereby facilitating the placement of the car on the tracks.
Another object of the invention is to provide a self-centering truck assembly which includes a self-centering cam which causes the trucks on a car to center themselves.
A further object of the invention is to provide a self-centering truck assembly which is easily retrofit onto existing model rail rolling stock.